How Much Home a $75K Salary Buys in Every State (at 2026 Rates)
Same salary, wildly different houses. We applied the 28/36 lender rule at today’s mortgage rate across the states.
By Michael Dang, CostByState Research Team · 2026-07-18
Here's a fact that surprises people: a salary buys almost the same-priced house everywhere. A lender in Ohio and a lender in California run the same 28/36 debt-to-income math, so a $75,000 salary qualifies for roughly the same loan in both. What changes wildly is what that money gets you — because the median home costs three or four times as much in one place as another.
Using today's 6.66% mortgage rate, a $75,000 earner with about $30,000 saved and modest existing debt can afford a home of roughly $244,151 under standard lender limits. Here's how far that stretches against the local median, state by state.
In 8 states, that $244,151 budget covers the entire median home — you're shopping at or above the middle of the market. In the priciest states it barely scratches it: in Hawaii, $244,151 is only about 29.2% of the $836,741 median, so a $75,000 salary is priced out of the typical home entirely without a much larger down payment or a co-buyer.
Where $75K still buys the whole house
| State | Median home | Share affordable |
|---|---|---|
| West Virginia | $182,704 | 133.6% |
| Mississippi | $198,428 | 123.0% |
| Louisiana | $217,969 | 112.0% |
| Oklahoma | $225,437 | 108.3% |
| Arkansas | $228,662 | 106.8% |
| Kentucky | $235,363 | 103.7% |
| Iowa | $241,255 | 101.2% |
| Alabama | $241,517 | 101.1% |
The levers that actually move your budget
If your number comes up short, three inputs move it most. The rate: every point of mortgage rate changes your buying power by roughly 10%. The down payment: more cash up front means a smaller loan and a bigger house for the same monthly payment. And other debts: a car loan or student payment directly shrinks the housing budget under the 36% back-end rule. The one thing that doesn't help much is stretching the term — you mostly just pay more interest.
Plug in your real salary, savings, and debts in any state's home affordability calculator, and see how the same salary stacks up across states in our side-by-side tool.
Methodology
Affordable price uses the 28/36 front-end/back-end rule at the current Freddie Mac 30-year rate, with $30,000 down, $250/month of other debt, a 1.1% property tax assumption, and $1,800/year insurance. Median home prices are Zillow ZHVI. Your actual limit depends on credit, local property tax, and lender. See our methodology.
Figures are computed from CostByState's cited data (see methodology) and updated monthly. For educational purposes only, not financial advice.